The best-friend role is so often a thankless one on TV. So much interest and conflict and contradictions get baked into the lead character, and with good reason. He or she are the face of the show. Their stories always have to be the most spectacularly compelling. One of the great things about Dear White People is that it uses its episodic structure to give each character the chance to be the lead character in their own story. Each character gets their own spotlight. And fans of Dear White People were understandably very happy when Joelle (Ashley Blaine Featherson) got to step to the fore in season 2. Since the very beginning of the series, Joelle has been our girl, there with a quick line or a word of support for her best friend Sam (Logan Browning). But as we wade into season 2, there’s a sense that Joelle has been overlooked. Do not make that same mistake, Emmy voters. A vote for Ashley Blaine Featherson is a vote for TV’s most underrated supporting performance.

For those who need convincing, look no further than season 2, episode 5. There, we stepped into Joelle’s shoes as she met a new boy, tried to keep her continuing friendship with Gabe a secret, and lingered in the shadow of her best friend Sam. This kind of alternate perspective requires a switching of gears on the part of the actress in question, so lucky for all of us that Ashley Blaine Featherson has been lowkey giving one of the show’s best performances since episode 1. Her quick bantering skills make her an ideal scene partner, bouncing off of pretty much any and all characters with ease. But there’s a strength and vulnerability in there that becomes apparent in “Chapter V,” where Joelle meets a guy in her Anatomy class, and for the first time in a long time, she’s the full center of someone’s attention.

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Earlier in the episode, she meets with Gabe, who she’s remained friends with on the sly even after he and Sam broke up. When Gabe inquires about her burgeoning feelings for Reggie, she reflexively says she has no interest in being a consolation prize for Sam. The uncomplicated happiness Jo feels during her brief time with Trevor seems so pure and so well-earned, it’s too bad we all have the stone-cold certainty it’ll go wrong. And go wrong it does, giving Featherson her standout scene, where she stands up to the Ho-Tep (more or less a black male chauvinist) in her midst with some righteous angerand frustration. It’s an episode that covers the breadth of what Featherson delivers all season: support for the rest of her cast and a magnetic, compelling aura when it’s her turn to step into the spotlight.

Dear White People is the kind of show that deserves consideration in all Emmy categories this year, but after season 1 went unrecognized, there’s an air of pessimism that the TV academy simply doesn’t get it. But with the Comedy categories opened up this year (with Veep ineligible and all), there’s a glimmer of hope that Dear White People will finally get the shine it deserves. No better place to start than with Ashley Blaine Featherson in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy category. And if you need further persuading, just listen to her sing “Tyrone”: